Music of the Mon People
Traditional music from Burma is melodious, generally without harmony, and usually in 4/4 time (na-yi-se) or 2/4 (wa-let-se) or 8/16 (wa-let-a-myan). There are "the segments combined into patterns, combined into verses, combined into songs [that] make Burmese music a multileveled hierarchical system...The Burmese musician manipulates the various levels of the hierarchy to create the song..." (Becker 1969, p. 272)
Popular Musical Instruments of the Mon People
Musical instruments include the brass se (which is like a triangle), hne (a kind of oboe) and bamboo wa, as well as the well-known saung, a boat-shaped harp. Traditionally, instruments are classified into five classes, called pyissin turiya
The Burmese harp is of special significance. It dates back to the 9th century, though it has changed quite a bit since then, expanding, for example, from three strings to sixteen
Kyei - brass instruments
Thayyei - leather-covered drums
Kyo - string instruments
Lei - wind instruments
Letkhout - percussion instruments
